Covid 19 coronavirus: KFC stops dine-in service across New Zealand

Schools and non-essential services across New Zealand will be closed for the next four weeks after the Government put the country in lockdown to try to stop the spread of coronavirus.

KFC has announced customers will no longer be able to dine in its restaurants across New Zealand, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The restaurant chain posted on Facebook that it has "temporarily closed" its dining room sitting, "following yesterday's government announcement".

KFC says it will continue to operate for takeaway, drive-through and delivery customers and the restaurants will stay open "for as long as it's safe to do so".

"It's unusual times and we know that a bit of comfort food can go a long way, so we're doing everything we can to make sure you can still get your fried chicken fix. Following yesterday's Government announcement we have decided to make a few changes. The biggest is that we've temporarily closed our dining room seating – but we're still open for takeaway, drive-through and delivery! We'll continue to keep our restaurants open for as long as it's safe to do so," the post read.

"Also, rest assured that our crew are also being more diligent than ever in keeping all surfaces clean and sanitised, as well as washing their hands frequently."

Carl's Jr and Pizza Hut, both owned by the same parent company as KFC, Restaurant Brands, have made similar announcements.

Carl's Jr posted on Facebook that drive-through, takeaway and delivery are still available.

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Pizza Hut posted on Facebook that it's "still here" but people need to either pick up their pizzas or have them delivered.

"Our teams are also being more diligent than ever in keeping all surfaces clean and sanitised, as well as washing their hands frequently," it said on Facebook.

The Government announced a new alert system in the fight against Covid-19 and New Zealand is currently on level 2 of that system.

Alert-level 2 means Covid-19 is "contained but risk of community transmission growing" and human contact must be further reduced - over-70s have been told to stay at home and everyone needs to limit domestic travel.

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